Snake Charmer
by SereneCalamity
Summary: Betty moves to Riverdale, and somehow winds up as a bikers go-to girl when he needed stitching up. Bughead. Oneshot.


_I just love these two, and I love Juggie as a Serpent :)_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own the characters._

Elizabeth Cooper moved to Riverdale when she was twenty-four. She had been a fully qualified nurse for just over a year, and she absolutely loved her job and her colleagues, but after living in New York for her entire life, she decided that she wanted to try something different, have a different change of pace.

Another big factor were her parents.

Her parents had finally broken up after years and years of arguing and their kids just wanting them to split up so that they could try and find happiness on their own. Unfortunately, it had resulted in Alice Cooper moving in with Betty in her apartment. Polly Cooper had a boyfriend and they had a roommate while Chic Cooper didn't live in New York, he traveled a lot, so Betty was the one that ended up with their mother moving in. Alice said that she hadn't lived alone in almost thirty years, and she wasn't prepared to just jump back into it. Betty tried not to resent her mother moving in, but they had never had the best of relationships, and Betty really liked having her own space, which was why she didn't have a roommate in the first place, even if it would help out financially.

Betty managed to last eight months, but she had been thinking about moving for a while. When she heard about a job opening in a small town nearly five hours away that would keep her on the same wage but gave her better hours, she took it.

Riverdale was nowhere near as big as New York, and for her first couple of months, she had to have a light on in her lounge and the TV going for background noise, because the whole the place was just too quiet, and too dark at night. She couldn't sleep. There was a hospital, even though Riverdale didn't seem big enough to have one, but it was because it was the biggest town for miles, and so all the other towns came to their hospital. She made fast friends with a couple of the girls at the hospital—the young receptionist, named Forsythia Jones, but had printed out a sticker to go over her name tag that said 'Jellybean', and another nurse, named Veronica Lodge. Veronica's girlfriend Cheryl Blossom didn't work at the hospital—in fact, Betty was pretty sure she didn't work at all—but she was still around quite often. The three girls were all very different, but Betty liked them all, and they all made her feel welcome.

It was a late Friday night, and Betty only had another hour left of her shift. She got off at half past twelve, Josie McCoy was taking over for her from there, and Betty could feel her mind wandering, thinking about how comfortable her bed was going to be. Friday and Saturday nights were generally the busiest ones, but this Friday had been surprisingly calm, and she was bored. She checked on a couple of patients, making sure that they were asleep and everything was okay, when her phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and saw a message from Jellybean.

 _I need you to swipe me in._

Betty frowned, and text back, asking which door Jellybean was at. The younger girl had finished work about three hours ago, and she said that she was going out with her older brother and some of his friends. She wasn't sure why she was back, but she didn't mind letting her in, obviously Jellybean had forgotten her swipe card.

She found the door that Jellybean was at and swiped her card, allowing the door to open. Jellybean was there, with a girl with thick brown hair and pink streaks through it, both of them wearing ripped jeans and shirts that looked a bit too skimpy to be dropping by work casually.

"Uh," Betty glanced them up and down. "What's up?"

"It would be better if you just ran along, pretty thing," the girl with pink streaks replied and Betty raised an eyebrow at her and looked directly at Jellybean. Jellybean looked slightly apologetic, but mainly, she just looked anxious.

"Hey," Betty reached out and touched the younger girls arm. "What's going on?"

"We need some stuff, Betty," Jellybean lowered her voice when another nurse walked by then.

"Some stuff?" Betty frowned and then her lips parted, leaning forward. "Forsythia—are you stealing _drugs_ from here?" Her words came out in a horrified whisper, because she really hadn't gotten that impression from Jellybean at all. She knew that Jellybeans family was heavily involved with the biker gang of the town, although it had only been rumours that she had heard in the staff room, and some off-handed comments from Veronica and Cheryl. Jellybean had never talked about it with her, and Betty hadn't asked about it, because she figured that she would bring it up when she was ready.

"Yes," the girl with pink in her hair drawled.

"No!" Jellybean sounded almost offended. They exchanged looks and Jellybean rolled her eyes and sighed. Betty felt even more confused and it was then that she properly looked at the two girls. Jellybean was wearing a dark coloured hoodie that was partially zipped up and the other girl had on a leather jacket, but the shirts they had on underneath looked as though they were slightly stained. She reached forward and unzipped Jellybeans hoodie the rest of the way and her eyes flew open.

"Are you okay?! What the hell, hun? What's happened?" Betty cried as she stared at Jellybeans lower torso, which was completely covered in blood.

"Oh my god, it's not her blood, okay?" The other girl huffed.

"Alright— _you_?" Betty looked over her, holding up a finger to shush her and narrowing her eyes. "You need to shut it." There was attitude written all over her face, but Betty was coming off a ten hour shift and she had been completely set to go home, shower, and climb into bed and coma for the next twelve hours, but now she was awake and panicking over the twenty year old receptionist. "And you," she looked back at Jellybean. "Explain." Jellybean took in a deep breath, her eyes flicking from side to side.

"I don't really have time to go into full details, but I need to grab some supplies because my brother and some of his friends got into it with some cops, and we need to stitch them up," Jellybean stated and Betty blinked.

"Come again," she managed to say.

"Oh, for fucks sakes," Jellybeans friend sighed.

"Usually Veronica helps us," Jellybean carried on. "But she's out of town with Cheryl. So..."

"You're not just here for supplies," Betty summed up. "You're here for me." Jellybean gave her a hopeful look and she sighed. "Um," she lifted up her wrist and looked at the time, and saw that her shift finished about two minutes ago. She couldn't believe that she was actually considering this. She was going to _steal_ from her job—because that's what she was about to do—and then go and help some _biker_ who had gotten into a fight with a _cop_.

There were so many things wrong with that, but she couldn't just let someone remain in pain when she had the chance of helping them. She had become a nurse because she wanted to help people, and it didn't sound as though they were going to come in to the hospital and get other treatment. She couldn't just leave them.

"Alright," Betty breathed out. "Alright," she scratched her temple before nodding her head, as though trying to assure herself. "You said usually Veronica helps you with this? Is this a common thing?"

"Can we have this discussion later?" The girl with pink streaks grumbled. For the first time, though, Betty agreed with her, even if she was one the rudest people that she had met.

"Okay," Betty said. "Let's go." The two younger girls followed after her as she walked quickly down the hallways. She passed by one of the other nurses who were on night shift, who raised her eyebrows at them but didn't say anything, and Betty just kept her eyes forward. They reached one of the supply closets and Betty swiped her card again, letting herself inside. "Stay out here," she told them as she closed the door behind them. There was no way that she would be able to explain two girls in the supply closet if anyone came along. She grabbed a few things, not really sure what she needed, and stuffed them into the pockets of her nurses uniform. As she came out of the door, she stopped short when she saw Josie standing with the two girls, her eyes widening in panic.

"Don't worry," Josie said with a wave of her hand. "I'm not going to rat you out or anything. And even if I did, I don't think anything would happen. Everyone in this town is afraid of JB's brother and the rest of their gang." That didn't make Betty feel _any_ more confident in what she was doing, but she jerked her head in a nod.

"Right," Betty licked her lips quickly and then glanced toward Jellybean and her friend. "Well, we better get going—" she realized something that she had forgotten to do given the unusual circumstances, and she turned back to Josie. "Hey, do you mean putting in my end time? I haven't clocked out yet." Josie nodded.

"That's fine," she said.

"We'll need to take your car," Jellybean interjected. "I came on the back of Toni's bike," she jerked her thumb toward the girl with pink in her hair, better known as Toni Topaz.

"Alright," Betty nodded. They stopped by the employee's lounge to pick up Betty's bag and her cardigan to go over her uniform before heading toward the front exit. Jellybean got into the passenger seat of Betty's car while Toni hopped on her bike, driving it over to Betty's car, and then leading the way out of the car park. "What happened?" Betty asked Jellybean as she followed Toni's car.

"Uh," Jellybean made a face. "It's probably better that I don't go into details."

"Do you go into detail with Veronica?" Betty lifted an eyebrow as she glanced over at the girl, flicking on her indicator to follow Toni's motorbike down a side road.

"That's different," Jellybean replied. "Veronica has lived here all her life and she's best friends with Archie, and he's a _Serpent_ , so that's...Different." Betty could understand that, even though she wasn't happy about it, so she didn't say anything else, pursing her lips together and focusing on the light from Toni's bike. It took them another ten minutes, and they were just outside of town when they turned down a long driveway. Betty could feel the nerves tightening her stomach even more as they got closer to the house and she could see a group of bikes parked outside.

"Right," Betty swallowed hard as she parked her car and turned off the engine.

"Just...Stay close to me, okay?" Jellybean gave her a look that was probably meant to look comforting but just made Betty more nervous. She had seen the bikers around town, and they definitely had that dangerous air about them that they obviously strived for. There were tattoo's and leather jackets and dark eyes and Betty knew that she was stereo-typing, but every time she saw them, all she thought was _criminal_ , and she went out of her way to avoid them.

"Okay," Betty nodded as she grabbed her bag and got out of the car. Toni had already disappeared inside the house, leaving Jellybean and Betty to catch up. Jellybean lead the way, and Betty tried to shake off the tension in her shoulders as she followed. The house was nice—it looked like a typical home, and Betty wasn't sure what she was expecting—and they walked down a long hallway to a lounge. "Uh," Betty's eyes widened, because the sight in front of her definitely _wasn't_ typical.

There were about six or seven big men—broad shoulders, dark eyes, mouths turned downward—and they were all wearing leather _Serpents_ jackets. As soon as the girls came into the room, they turned to look at them, and their eyes seemed to skim over Toni and Jellybean, and focus solely on Betty, who felt _very_ out of place.

"Hi..." she said weakly, looking from one face to another, her fingers tightening around the strap of her handbag.

"This is Betty," Jellybean said as she walked through the group of men, all of them moving out of the way to make room for her. Betty decided to follow after the shorter girl, trying not to hyperventilate. "She's here to help, since Veronica is away."

"How do you know we can trust her?" Came a grunt from one of the guys behind Betty, and the blonde didn't like his tone or implication.

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to help," she said sternly without turning around, and then Jellybean came to a stop, and Betty did as well, looking over her shoulder. On the couch was a guy with a nasty looking gash over his eye, and beside him was another guy with blood soaked through the grey wife beater he was wearing. Betty took in a deep breath as she looked upwards at the mans face, and noted him watching her with intense eyes, through the flop of dark hair that was hanging in front of his face. She had seen him a couple of times, and she knew that it was Jellybeans brother. "Okay," she took in a deep breath. "I'll start with you," she began, stepping toward the man with the bloody shirt.

"No," he stated firmly and she froze. She had to admit, he scared her for different reasons than the other biker members in the room. There was something in his green eyes that made her shiver.

"W-what?" Betty asked.

"Fix up Sweet Pea first," Forsythe Pendleton Jones III, better known as Jughead, told her.

"But your wound is worse," Betty reasoned, which was why she had stepped toward him in the first place.

"Fix up Sweet Pea first," he repeated, his gaze steady, and clearly there wasn't any arguing with him, because Jellybean had already moved to take a seat on the couch beside the first man, who must have been Sweet Pea. Betty nodded, and she moved over to him. She decided to kneel on the ground in front of him.

"Okay," she said, forcing herself to smile and act as though this wasn't any different from looking after one of her patients at the hospital. "I just need to clean it up first, so that I can see what we're dealing with. Do you have anything else you need me to have a look at?"

"Oh, I've _definitely_ got something else you can have a look at," Sweet Pea's lips curled upward in a smirk and there were some snorts from the guys behind them. Betty let out a huff of annoyance through her nose and Jellybean slapped the man on the arm.

"Show some respect," Jughead growled under his breath, and the smirk quickly dropped of Sweet Pea's face. Betty was grateful for the interjection, because she was already feeling nervous enough, she didn't need to add some biker guy hitting on her to the mix. The gash above his eye was deep, and it needed stitches. They would be best done at the hospital, but Betty had already gathered that that wasn't an option, so she was glad that she had brought a whole variety of supplies.

"I need to clean it up first," Betty said quietly. "And then I need to stitch it up. I don't..." she swallowed hard. "I don't have a numbing injection, so it's going to hurt."

"Had worse," Sweet Pea replied with a shrug, not looking concerned as well.

"I'll get you something," Toni spoke up. "And the rest of you—we've got this under control. You don't need to crowding her." Betty was relieved at that as well, because the others that were in the room, watching her every move, wasn't helping her nerves. She heard movement behind her, and when she turned around as Toni was coming back over to them, she noted that the rest of the bikers that had been behind her had left the room and she let out a relieved sigh. "Here," Toni thrust forward a bottle of tequila toward Sweet Pea.

"Thanks," he muttered as he took it from her and unscrewed the lid. Betty rubbed some alcohol based sanitizer onto her hands to clean them and took in a deep breath. He took a swig from the bottle as Betty dipped some antiseptic onto a soft pad that she ripped out of a bag and set to work. Sweet Pea didn't move as she cleaned the wound, but he took another few long pulls of tequila before she began stitching it up. It didn't take long, but it was still not something she had done before—stitched someone up without all the correct equipment. Once she was done, Jellybean showed her into the kitchen for her to wash off the blood before she began on Jughead. Sweet Pea and Toni had left the room, leaving just Jughead there.

"Okay," Betty took in another deep breath as she looked down to his blood stained shirt. "Um, I'll need you to take that off." Jughead nodded, and started with his leather jacket, slipping it off and wincing as he did. "I can help—" she cut herself off when he took his shirt off over his head, maneuvering with one arm, and even though he cringed again, he still moved as though he _didn't_ have a big, blood wound in his side. "Oh god," Betty's eyes widened as she saw his side. Jughead also took off the padding that had been pressing against it to try and stop the blood flow. There was still blood coming out, but it wasn't flowing, and as she leaned forward, she could see that something was still in there. "Wait, is that—"

"It's a bullet," Jughead stated flatly and Betty swallowed hard. Any bullet wounds that came through the emergency room had to immediately be reported to the police. Betty had had a kid who had accidentally shot himself in the foot when he was out in the woods, and the police had even done a check on him.

"Alright," Betty murmured. She forced her emotions to shut off and set to work. Jughead didn't take any tequila, he just kept his teeth gritted and staring at a spot on the wall over her head. After taking out the bullet, she cleaned the area and stitched up the wound. When she was done, Jughead didn't say anything. He just nodded at her and then stood up, flinching a little as he straightened up before walking out of the room, carrying his bloody shirt. Betty looked down at her bloody hands and pursed her lips. "So...Is that it? Anything else I need to do?"

"No," Jellybean shook her head. "No, that's perfect. Thank you."

"Right," Betty swallowed hard as she got up, and then walked into the kitchen where she had gone before, washing her hands thoroughly in the sink. When she finished, she dried them on some paper towels that were above the sink, and she glanced around for the rubbish bin.

"Over there," Jughead said, pointing over to a cupboard under the sink.

"Thanks," Betty gave him a quick smile before opening the cupboard and throwing the paper towels inside. She felt her stomach jump as Jughead stepped closer and she tried to keep his breathing even as he stretched out his hand. She looked down and saw a wad of notes in his hand, and frowned. "What's this?" She asked, not reaching out for them, keeping her hands at her side.

"Payment," Jughead stated with a raise of his eyebrow. "I would think that's obvious."

"It's fine," Betty shook her head. "I don't want your money. Jellybean is a friend and she needed help." Jughead gave her a look of disbelief before shoving the money into the pocket of his jeans with a shrug.

"Now, I'm pretty sure that you know that you can't tell anyone what you saw here today, especially anyone else who works at the hospital or the police," Jughead's voice dropped an octave to a deeper tone, and it made Betty shiver. _Again_.

"I know," she told him, annoyed that her voice came out as a slight rasp.

"Alright," Jughead nodded. "JB will see you out."

* * *

Betty couldn't help that her mind keep flicking back to that night.

It had been two weeks now, but every time she closed her eyes, it was Jughead that she saw. She had never really gone for that whole bad boy type, with the leather jackets and the tattoo's and that curl of their lip as though they knew something that the rest of the world didn't. But there was just something in the way he spoke that made her whole body flush warm. She had only seen him once since then, and it was just across the street. He hadn't seen her, but she had watched as he had gotten on the back of his motorbike, the stretch of his jeans across his ass as he had swung his leg over, and then she had ducked her head.

Veronica came up to her when she came back from her weekend away with Cheryl, and had thanked Betty for taking over for her, saying that she could imagine that it wasn't easy for.

The thing was, once Betty got home that night and thought about it, the more she realized that it wasn't as bad as she thought. She was a nurse, and she had taken an oath to help people. Sure, she knew that there was meant to be more to it, there were more rules for them to follow, but essentially, it came down to helping people. And that was what she had done.

There was a party at Cheryl's house, and Jellybean had been going on about how she wanted Betty to come. Betty had moved here to get away from her uptight life, and so she knew that she should branch out some more, so she had said yes. As soon as she had pulled up in the driveway and seen a few motorbikes parked up outside, she was instantly glad that she had made the choice to go, although there were a few nervous twinges in her stomach.

"You made it!" Veronica grinned as she opened the door. "Oh, and you look gorgeous." She glanced over Betty's outfit and nodded. Betty had put on a little black and green dress that she had brought when she was back in New York and had a birthday with one of her nursing friends. She had been worried that she might be a bit overdressed, but thankfully Veronica was glammed up in a purple dress, and when Betty looked over her shoulder and saw Cheryl, she realized that compared to the red head, she may actually be a little _under_ dressed. "Come in, come in!" Veronica insisted. "I'll introduce you to some people!"

Betty was surprised by the amount of people that she actually knew, given she had gone out for dinner or drinks a few times with Veronica and Cheryl. Riverdale was a small town and most people knew each other, and all of them pretty much knew her, since she was the newest girl in town. She officially met Archie Andrews, who she had only seen from a distance before, and when they reached Jughead, Betty swallowed hard.

"Oh, and you already know Juggie here," Veronica grinned as she rested a hand on Jugheads arm. "So I guess that's pretty much everyone introduced!"

"Thanks," Betty managed a small smile at Veronica, but in all honesty, she was just trying to hide the fact that she was trying to press her thighs together. Jugheads gaze was heated as it traveled up and down, and when his eyes met hers again, Veronica seemed to realize that something was going on between them.

"Well, I'm gonna go and check on...Other stuff," she said with a grin as she walked off. Betty licked her lips as she looked at Jughead, and he was smiling lazily back at her.

"Nice to see you out of your scrubs," he noted.

"Uh, yeah," Betty let out an awkward laugh. "Nice to see you...Not all bloody," she finished awkwardly and winced, but Jughead just let out a short laugh.

"Yeah, I guess that's always a bonus," he said quietly. They stood there for a while, Betty feeling awkward without a drink in her hand as a distraction. Jughead didn't seem to be trying to hide the fact that he was watching her, and that made her shift from foot to foot. Betty had finally plucked up the courage to say something when there were some shouts from the other room, what sounded like a fight breaking out. Jughead sighed as he pushed off the wall he had been leaning against. "I better go and see what's going on," he said. "I'll see you around, Nurse Betty."

"Bye," Betty murmured, but he was already walking away. Cheryl and Josie came over a few minutes later and distracted Betty. Even though she kept an eye out for Jughead for the rest of the evening, she didn't see him again.

* * *

While it was obvious that Veronica had been their go-to person for a long time, and they trusted her, but for some reason, whenever it was Jughead that was hurt, it was Betty that got a text. She had no idea when Jughead had gotten her number—either from Jellybean or Veronica—but she didn't mind. They were always short, straight to the point texts, but Betty always felt a thrill of exhilaration every time she got one.

Some times it was only something small, something that she was pretty sure he didn't need her for, but she went along each time. There was another bullet, this one in his arm, and it made Betty's heart race when she had to take it out, but she did it, because she wanted to make him feel better. He was always silent when she worked, and only spoke afterwards a few times, but she lived for those moments.

Maybe it wasn't the most healthiest of relationships, and he definitely wasn't the safest person to be pining after, but Betty couldn't help it.

It was late, close to midnight, when she finished this particular Friday night. Sometimes on a Friday she would go out with Veronica and Cheryl and sometimes Josie, but Josie was having a date night with her boyfriend, Reggie Mantle, and Veronica was working the night shift, so Betty was heading straight home. She arrived at her home—which was a cute little cottage that she had been very lucky to find—and was surprised when she saw a motorbike parked on the road outside. She parked in her driveway and got out, and as she was locking the door of her car, a shadow on her front doorstep moved, and Betty let out a squeak of surprise.

"Shit!" She exclaimed as she saw who it was and she let out a heavy breath. "God, you gave me a fright."

"Sorry," Jughead gave her a half smile.

"It's fine," Betty told him, probably a little too quickly, and his smile grew. She then shook her head and frowned as she tried to look him over in the dim light coming from the street light. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"Nope," Jughead shook his head.

"Then...Why are you here?" Betty tilted her head to the side. "And how did you know where I lived?"

"I've known where you lived since the first time you fixed me and Sweet Pea up," Jughead replied. "JB told me."

"In case I told anyone?" Betty asked with a frown.

"I knew you wouldn't tell anyone," Jughead answered, and his smile changed a little. Even in the limited light she could see it shift. It was softer, and it made his eyes shine, and it was pathetic how hard her heart was beating. She tried to tell herself that this wasn't going in the direction that she thought that it was going—that she _hoped_ it was going—but then Jughead's hand moved from his side and up to her face. "I knew that there was something about you the first time that I met you. I didn't...I didn't want to push anything because you were so..." his fingers brushed over her cheek before sliding under her jaw. His fingers were calloused but gentle as they moved over her skin, fingers stopping just under her ear. "I don't know—you were so separate from our world. You always looked out of place when you came to fix us up."

"But you kept on texting me," Betty's voice caught in her throat, coming out soft. "You text _me_ instead of Veronica."

"Yeah," Jughead nodded, and he leaned forward just a little bit. "And you kept coming. And so I figured, maybe it wasn't such a long shot."

"What wasn't?" Betty asked, but her focus was completely on his lips, which were only a few inches away from hers.

"That you might be interested in me..." Jughead murmured, his fingers tightening a little around her. The tension was sparking between them, and every nerve in Betty's body was thrumming with energy, just wanting to jump forward and press their lips together. She couldn't make the move though—she couldn't move _at all_. Her hands were still at her side and she was finding it hard to breathe.

"I am," she managed to say.

"Yeah?" Jughead prompted softly as his other hand lifted, this one going around her neck. His fingers splayed out at the nape of her neck and his thumb stretched up toward the hinge of her jaw.

"Yeah." The word was barely out of Betty's mouth before Jughead was finally closing the gap between their mouths and they were coming together. His body was firm against hers and he held her face softly, his lips working over her own. He tasted faintly of bourbon and cigarettes, and more strongly of mint, like he had been chewing gum before they had kissed. That made her feel special, like he was trying to cover up the tastes that she might not like. When Jughead pulled away, he rubbed his nose gently against hers and rested his forehead against hers.

"Want to carry this on inside?" Jughead suggested with a smirk and Betty jerked her head quickly in a nod.

" _Yes_."

 _Let me know what you think x_


End file.
